


In Which Will Wears Orange Socks to Feel Like Himself

by why_am_i_evan_heere



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Bodyswap, F/M, M/M, Nico hates bright colors, Nico is a Dork, Ouija board thing???, Sleepovers, They make an offering to the gods, Will Solace is a Ball of Sunshine, and it doesn't go as planned, but you can interpret it as you want, they arent technically together...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:53:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27822571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/why_am_i_evan_heere/pseuds/why_am_i_evan_heere
Summary: Nico and Will are having a sleepover, which isn't unusual, until Nico brings out a board game wherein they make wishes to the Greek gods. Both the boys wish for different things, and the gods decide to interpret it in a way the boys would never think of.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Hazel Levesque/Frank Zhang, Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Kudos: 44





	In Which Will Wears Orange Socks to Feel Like Himself

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if they're OOC, I've never written these characters before, haha! Im a sucker for bodyswap fics, and decided to add another to the mix

Will was ecstatic. Nico had finally agreed to sleep over at his house, after constant bickering and whining from the blonde boy. Will had planned everything out for Nico’s first slumber party. (Or  _ ‘sleeping at my best friend’s house and also doing games and stuff’  _ as Nico insisted it was. “Slumber party sounds like we’re seven-year-old girls.”)

It was the tail end of the night when they decided it was time to break out the ghosty games. Will smiled at how excited the Italian was to do some cultish summoning. 

“So, I found this new one where you can allegedly ask for wishes from the Greek Gods. Sounded cool, so let’s try it.” Nico had pulled the box out of his black duffel bag and was now meticulously setting it up on the carpet of Will’s room. Once he was done, they knelt down on either side of the board.

“I came prepared. We need to burn stuff, so could you open a window?” Nico retrieved a bowl, a bag of chips, and a box of matches from his bag.

“Um… sure?” Will stood up and opened the window by his bed, the cold air blowing his messy blonde hair in his face. 

Nico dumped some chips in a metal bowl and put it in the circle on the center of the board. He gestured for the blue-eyed boy to retake his spot across from him. Once Will knelt down, Nico lit a match and threw it into the bowl. Surprisingly, the burning chips didn’t smell too bad. The open window aired the smoke out nicely.

“Now, we close our eyes and wish. If we say our wishes out loud, they won’t work. So don’t do that.” The boys closed their eyes, making their wishes.

_ “I wish I could get closer to Nico. He always seems so closed off…” _

_ “I wish I could see how everything looks from Will’s perspective. How can he always find the good in everything?” _

When the two opened their eyes, nothing had happened.

“It might take a while,” Nico explained, blowing out their small bonfire. “Let’s sleep on it.”

“What about our other games?”

“I mean… I could probably stay over another night…” Nico blushed slightly. Will didn’t notice.

“Okay, sure!” Will closed the window while Nico cleaned up the game. Once he was finished, the black-haired boy got into his sleeping bag and fell asleep quickly. Will smiled softly at him before climbing into his own bed and falling asleep immediately once his head hit the pillow.

————-oOo————

When Will woke up, his bed was hard against his back, and his sheets were a scratchy polyester. He tried to fall back asleep, but was scared fully awake by a loud thump to his right. Soft snoring continued moments later. Will tried to stand up, but his arms and legs were constricted. He wiggled his arms out of… Nico’s sleeping bag? He looked around, and sure enough, he was on the floor. When he looked down at his hands, he saw that they were pale and thin, the nails covered with a chipping coat of black polish. A dark lock of hair fell in front of Will’s fear-ridden eyes.

He wriggled the rest of his body out of the sleeping bag and stumbled to his full-length mirror, wobbling on too-short legs. He stared in silent horror when the figure reflected in the mirror wasn’t Will Solace, but Nico di Angelo. He screamed, Nico’s familiar voice coming out of his mouth.

A groan came from the floor next to Will’s bed. Sure enough, when he looked over, Will saw himself blinking sleepily on the floor. 

“Will? Why did you scream?” Nico said, his eyes closed. His eyes shot open and his hands went up to his throat. “What’s wrong with my voice?!” Nico focused his gaze on Will. Will was very uncomfortable looking at himself not in a mirror, and knowing that was  _ Nico _ in there. Nico’s eyes widened when he saw Will. 

“Y-you’re me?” He screeched. Will stepped forward and knelt next to the now-blonde boy.

“Calm down, Nico. Calm down.” He began rubbing comforting circles on the boy’s back, something he always did when Nico had panic attacks. His breaths became less labored, and he looked down at Will, fear shining in his deep blue eyes. 

“W-will?” He stuttered.

“Yeah, Neeks, I’m here.”

“What happened?” Will didn’t know how, but decided that they could figure it out with each other. 

“I don’t know. All I do know is that I’m in  _ your  _ body, and you’re in  _ mine _ .” He pointed between himself and Nico. Once the younger boy had calmed down, he crawled over to the mirror and got a look at the reflection. It was, of course, of Will, a face he knew very well. He made various actions in the mirror, making sure the reflection was truly his before turning back to his best friend.

“How are we supposed to explain this to our friends? Aren’t we meeting with them for lunch? It’s already 10:30!” Nico cried. Will thought for a moment.

“How about we just cancel?”

“Hazel and Frank will get worried and come to the house, and Leo and Percy will send us a barrage of suggestive texts. I think it’s best we don’t.” Nico sighed.

“You’re right. For now, should we take showers?”

“Ugggg.” Nico groaned. The expression he was making was strange to see on Will’s face.

“Let’s put on swim trunks without looking, then shower in them, and change back without looking. How’s that?” Will asked gently. Nico cringed hearing the comforting tone coming out in his voice. 

“Yeah, okay.” Will dug out a pair of bright orange swim trunks, and a black pair that Nico had left at his house once after they went swimming. 

“You have to wear the orange ones, Nico,” Will said, holding them out.

Nico groaned. “Nooooooo. Bright colorrrrs.” He reluctantly took them. 

“Sorry Neeks, but you will be wearing a lot of bright colors before we get this figured out. We don’t want people suspecting anything.”

“And you’ll have to wear black, Sunshine,” Nico taunted. 

After a whole awkward shower ordeal, Nico and Will were standing in soaking swim shorts trying to find outfits that wouldn’t make them suspicious, but wouldn’t put the boys too out of their comfort zone.

“How about this one?” Will held out an ensemble with a white t-shirt, navy button-up over top, and khaki shorts. 

“No. Too many light colors.” Nico complained. “This one?” Nico picked up a white band t-shirt and a black leather jacket with black ripped jeans. 

“Can I add a red bandana?” Will asked hopefully. 

“No, but you can put on orange socks if you want. Just hide them with my boots.” Will grabbed the clothes and ducked into the bathroom to change. Nico surveyed the clothing explosion around him and tried to find something he thought Will would wear. He looked back at the navy, white, and khaki combo and sighed. He picked it up, along with Will’s beaded necklace that he always wore, and waited for him to come out.  **(if you make coming out jokes I swear-)** When Will emerged, Nico still did a double-take looking at himself. The white shirt was a little out of place, but other than that, it was pretty good.

“Have you decided?” Will asked. Nico nodded and gestured his head to the clothes he was holding. “You really did like that one, huh?” Will joked. Nico blushed. He knew it wouldn’t be visible on Will’s tanned face, and for once he was glad about it. 

“Shut up.” He muttered. Will laughed. Laughing sounded creepy in Nico’s voice. Once he too had changed, they snuck downstairs and carefully past Will’s siblings, who were watching TV.

“Will, where are you guys going?” Kayla asked once they had opened the door. She hadn’t looked away from the television. Will opened his mouth before realizing that he shouldn’t answer. 

“Um, just to get lunch with everybody?” Nico awkwardly rushed. He was going to need to work on that if he was going to pass for Will. Kayla didn’t reply, so they figured they were free to go. They walked the short distance to the Japanese place where they were eating in complete silence. It was the most awkward the boys had felt in a long time around each other. 

They walked into the quaint restaurant and immediately Leo started waving at them, his arms swooping in large arcs. They stiffly made their way to the table, still unused to their new heights. They took the two empty seats and sat in awkward silence while everyone around them continued talking. After a few minutes, everyone started looking at Nico weirdly, because by now Will would’ve joined in the conversation. They weren’t worried about Nico. (Will was in fact holding himself back in providing information about the procedures needed to fix a broken arm while they talked about hospitals.) Nico looked at them like he didn’t know what they wanted from him. Will nervously fidgeted with Nico’s leather jacket, hoping no one would notice the nervous habit of his. Everyone noticed.

“Um, are you two okay?” Hazel asked.

“Yeah totally!” Will blurted loudly.  _ Stupid stupid stupid, Nico wouldn’t do that! _

Nico didn’t say anything, just nodded. 

“Yeah, no. Something’s up.” Annabeth stood up and examined them both closely, which only made Will fidget more and Nico dart his eyes around the room. Finally, after about a minute of Annabeth uncomfortably looking at them, Nico snapped.

“We’re  _ FINE _ , okay?” He growled. Everyone looked at who they thought was Will in amazement. 

“W-will?” Frank stuttered. 

“I didn’t know he could do that. Pretty impressive, Solace.” Leo said, leaning over the table to pat Nico on the shoulder. Nico tensed at the touch. He didn’t like people touching him. Only Will could touch him. His breathing sped up a bit. Will noticed, and set his hand on Nico’s back and started rubbing circles like he did this morning.

“Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay,” Will muttered. What both of them didn’t notice was that the other seven were staring at them again.

“It’s like their personalities have been swapped,” Piper said, breaking the silence. Will and Nico stiffened when she said that. It was dangerously close to what had happened. Their plan to keep it a secret was falling apart. 

“Wait, is that really what happened?” Jason asked, seeing them looking uncomfortable. The boys both shook their heads. Everyone in the room seemed to sigh in relief.

“Wedidswitchbodiesthough.” Will blurted.

“Will!”

“I’m sorry!”

Everyone was staring at them again. Their faces showed a mixture of disbelief, realization, and confusion.

“I’m sorry, WHAT?” Percy screeched. Nico was glad they were in a party room where no one else could hear what was happening. Will decided he should probably say something because Nico definitely wasn’t.

“So, um, hi. Will here. That’s Nico.” He pointed to the pouting boy to his left. “Last night we did a little Greek wishing Ouija board type thing and I don’t know what we wished for but this morning this happened. Soooo.” He fidgeted more.

“How do we know that you’re not lying?” Annabeth inquired, one of her eyebrows raised.

“Eighty percent of people infected with the Ebola virus will die from this disease. Humans have 46 chromosomes, peas have 14 and crayfish have 200. There are approximately 96,000 km of blood vessels in the human body. If the lining of mucus were to disappear from your stomach, your stomach would digest itself. Each person sheds 22 kilograms of skin in their lifetime.” Will spouted.

“Yep. That’s Will.” Percy said, stunned. 

“So that means,” Piper started. “That’s Nico?” She pointed at him.

“Yep. It took a lot of work to get him to wear that many light colors.” Will laughed. Everyone looked strangely at him, presumably because they had never heard Nico laugh before.

“It did not!” Nico pouted.

“Did too!”

“Well, he’s wearing orange socks right now because he needed to have a bright color!” Nico countered.

Everyone snickered at that. Will blushed, and it was very apparent on Nico’s light skin tone.

“Now, how do we fix this?” Hazel asked. 

“Um… I don’t know for sure.” Will admitted.

“Talk us through the game,” Annabeth suggested.

“So, Nico started setting up the board and I opened a window. He said that we needed to close our eyes and say our wishes inside our heads. He put some chips in a bowl and lit them on fire, and we made our wishes. Then we opened our eyes and nothing had happened. We decided to sleep on it, and when we woke up, we were like this.” Will gestured at himself. 

“What did you wish?” Jason asked.

“Bet Will wished to get inside Ghost Boy’s p-” Leo said suggestively, before Piper clamped a hand over his mouth.

“I wished that I could get closer to Nico because he always seemed so closed off,” Will said.

“I wished that I could see how Will always finds the good in everything. See stuff from his perspective.” Nico added. A millisecond later, the two boys collapsed, unconscious.

“UM whAT HAPpeneD?? Leo screeched. Annabeth rushed to their sides and called Frank and Jason over to pick them up.

“We’re going to take them back to Will’s house. Let’s hope this is a good thing. They passed out as soon as they said their wishes, so hopefully they will be back to normal.” Everyone ‘ _ ohhhhh’ _ ed and scrambled to grab their things while Jason and Frank carefully carried the boys. Once they got to the house, Hazel knocked on the door and bounced on her feet impatiently. Austin opened the door.

“Helloooooo---” He trailed off when he saw his brother and his brother’s best friend being carried, unconscious, by Jason and Frank. “What happened here?!” 

“No time to explain,” Annabeth said.

“Let us innnnnn!” Leo shoved Austin out of the way and stomped up the stairs to Will’s room, where the group was greeted with an explosion of clothing all over the floor.

“Oh. Okay.” Piper said. “I’ll clean this up.” She started picking up clothes and folding them impeccably before placing them in open drawers. Frank and Jason set Will and Nico down on the bed and sleeping bag respectively and waited for Piper to finish. Once she did, they decided that one or two people should stay and wait for the boys to wake up.

“I will!” Hazel volunteered. “I want to make sure my half brother is okay.” Frank decided that he would be the other, primarily because he wanted to spend more time with his girlfriend. 

About an hour after everyone else had left, Nico started stirring. He blinked open his eyes and saw that he was lying on his sleeping bag. When he looked at his hands, they were pale and thin, and he had his signature black polish on his nails. 

“Um, are you Will or Nico?” Hazel warily asked.

“Nico.” The pale boy was thrilled that when he spoke, his voice was his own. 

“It worked!” Hazel jumped up and hugged her brother. Frank stood awkwardly in the corner.

“Where is everyone else?” Nico asked. 

“They all went home. We stayed here to wait for you to wake up.” Hazel replied.

“And what about Will?”

“He’s still sleeping.”

Nico stood up and walked over to Will’s bed. The blonde boy was curled up in a little ball. Nico shook his shoulder vigorously. 

“Come on sunshine, wake up!” Will groaned and opened his eyes, looking up at Nico. He gasped and immediately looked down at himself.

“I’m me!” He whispered excitedly.

“Yep, sunshine. And I think I know why.” This piqued Hazel and Frank’s interest. Nico whispered something in Will’s ear. 

“Uggggggg.” Will groaned. The couple waited in anticipation.

Nico smirked. “Yep. This whole mess could’ve been over sooner if we just told each other our stupid wishes.” 


End file.
